Milk and Cereal
by FiercesomestDefenestrator
Summary: Pyrrha is going to tell Ruby about this crush if it kills her. Oneshot. Happy Valentine's Day!


**A/N: Defenestrator and I wrote this for a friend's birthday a while back and decided this would be an excellent day to share it with the rest of you.**

 **As per usual, Defenestrator writes for her set of characters and I write for mine, and then we piece it all together. If anything seems choppy, it's probably my fault. Other than that, this is just sheer fun.**

 **Enjoy, and Happy Valentine's Day!**

 **\- Fiercesomest**

 **A/N: Also this is being posted super late at night because of my schedule being a huge butt, but please enjoy this for what's left of Valentines!  
**  
 **HUGS,**  
 **D**

* * *

"Your move, Nikos."

"All right..." Pyrrha squinted at her opponent's hand. She could practically hear her own heartbeat in the dead silence of the deserted library.

Sitting on the other side of their small square table, Yang Xiao Long held two cards. One led to victory. The other to certain defeat.

Biting her lip, Pyrrha reached out... and chose the left card. A two of diamonds.

" _Ughghhhh,_ " Yang tossed her final card to the table, grimacing at the cartoonish Beowolf in a maid's outfit grinning back up at her. "So that's poker, blackjack, go fish, and now Grimm maid," she counted each game off on one finger, pouting in utter defeat, "Can you maybe try _not_ winning a game for once?"

Pyrrha laughed nervously, setting down her final pair. "It's just luck. I'm really not very good at games like thi-"

" _Don't you lie to me Pyrrha,_ " Yang leaned across the table, flicking a finger against Pyrrha's forehead.

Her circlet protected her from the actual flick, but Pyrrha leaned back regardless, flustered by the accusation, "I- I'm sorry!"

Heaving an overdramatic sigh, Yang leaned back, balancing on two chair legs as she brushed the apology aside with a wave of her hand. "Yeah yeah, _sure_ you are."

A beat of awkward silence passed.

Just as Pyrrha opened her mouth to speak, Yang dropped back to all four chair legs, fixing her friend with a smile. "So how about, instead of you suggesting another game to _trounce_ me at, you tell me why you called me out here?"

For someone that embodied blazing heat incarnate, Yang's words sent a thoroughly icy chill down Pyrrha's spine. She'd stalled too long. She'd been discovered. She put on her most unassuming smile. "...I'm sorry?"

"Pyrrha please," Yang plopped her elbows on the table, resting her head atop her palms, "Who drags their friend to the library to play card games alone on a Saturday morning?"

Pyrrha's smile contorted in nerves and uncertainty. She'd spent the entire _week_ preparing for this. Why was it so hard?! "I, uh... _I_ do?"

"Nope," Yang wagged a finger, twisting it into a come-hither motion, "C'mon. Tell me why we're here." To help seal the deal, she flashed a winning smile of her own.

Put somewhat at ease, Pyrrha took a deep breath through her nose and steeled herself as best she could. She had fought Grimm more than twice her size, in numbers greater than her country's own army. She could _do this._ "I... I think I..."

Yang nodded, motioning for her to continue.

"I think I like..."

Yang braced herself.

"...your sister."

Yang blinked.

Pyrrha stared, flushing the color of her own hair.

Yang blinked again.

"Oh thank _god,_ " Yang sat back with a laugh, running a hand down her face, much to Pyrrha's confusion. "I thought I was gonna have to let you down easy."

Pyrrha tilted her head. "...What?"

"Never mind," Yang hopped up from her seat and skirted around the table's edge, sitting squarely on the table itself and leaning into Pyrrha's personal space. "So! You and my little sister, huh?"

Pyrrha stiffened, spine straight, shoulders back. "Yes, I - ...It seemed best to ask your permission first."

Yang snickered, "Do I really come across that overprotective?"

"No!" Pyrrha waved her hands, "It's just that Mistralian tradition typically calls for asking the mother's blessing before attempting to court her daughters-"

Yang held up a hand, her smile having slipped a notch, "Pyrrha, chill. _My_ tradition says Ruby can date who she wants." When Pyrrha raised a skeptical brow at her, she elaborated, "I mean yeah, I'll straight up murder anyone that messes with her, but I'm pretty sure that's not going to be a problem with you."

It took a moment for the words to sink in, but once she understood the approval for what it was, Pyrrha relaxed tenfold. She nodded, placing a hand over her heart. "I promise to treat her well."

At this, Yang cracked a lopsided smirk, snorting into her fist. "Yeah okay hotshot, don't go counting your chickens before they hatch." Much to her delight, her little sister had never been much of a romantic. Ruby had always been more likely to sneak out at night with Crescent Rose than with a person. "You still gotta actually ask her out - _and_ get her to say yes."

Surprise flickered across Pyrrha's features, and she deflated a bit. "Do you think... she'll decline?"

Yang shrugged, whipping out her scroll, "You won't know 'til you try!"

Emerald green eyes warily tracked Yang's fingers as they danced across the keyboard lining the bottom of the screen. She seemed to be texting back and forth with someone. "What... are you doing?"

"Helping." Yang flipped her scroll around, teeth showing in an amused grin at Pyrrha's wide-eyed reaction to Ruby's smiling icon. "You officially have a small, adorable huntress in training on her way to meet you in the cafeteria."

Pyrrha shot up from her seat. " _What?!_ "

Yang waved her away, "Better get a move on. Don't want to keep a girl waiting, right?"

Throwing one last incredulous look over her shoulder at Yang, Pyrrha nodded and dashed away.

* * *

"Ruby Rose, huntress extraordinaire, stalks closer to the fortress of the feared and dreaded Grimm pancakes," Ruby paused in her narration, fork poised above a stack of chocolate chip pancakes at the cafeteria's hot bar.

The clink of silverware carried across the tables- it was a little early for lunch, so the hall was mostly empty. Nora, through persistence and a surprisingly legitimate number of signatures, had gotten the tenth of every month declared official Pancake Day, and Beacon's kitchen staff had really gotten into it.

The whole bar was full of trays of different types- everything from apple to... if there was a type of pancake that had a 'z' in it, Ruby was sure it would have been in the line up. As it was, she jabbed her chosen stack, her red cloak sliding off her shoulder as she shut her eyes hard, fork and skewered pancakes thrust high in victory, "Take that! Your reign of terror ends here!"

"Ruby!" A voice called from the cafeteria entrance. Pyrrha jogged over, lightly winded from a mile long sprint that would have left many lesser students dead on their feet. She came to a stop on the other side of the long table, leaning her hands on her knees to catch her breath. "I'm sorry, did you wait long?"

"Oh, uh, nope!" Ruby scrambled to transfer the speared pancakes to her plate. In the middle of her effort to look normal, she noticed Pyrrha seemed kind of flushed. Maybe from running? Weird. Ruby leaned down some, tilting her head to try and catch Pyrrha's gaze, "So... are you okay?"

Pyrrha straightened right back up, taking a seat across from Ruby. She had no idea what Yang had texted her to get her to come out, so she smiled to hide the way she fumbled for words, "Of course I'm okay. Why do you ask?"

"You seemed like you were in a hurry?" Ruby turned the explanation into a question as she scooted her tray across the table, offering Pyrrha a slightly stabbed chocolate chip pancake. "Also Yang said you wanted to ask me something."

Yang hadn't mentioned what it was, though. It made Ruby kind of nervous- not bad nervous, but curious nervous? Like maybe Pyrrha wanted to talk about team stuff, or weapon stuff? Ruby fidgeted with her fork. Why wouldn't Yang tell her that, though?

If not for her years of practice keeping her cool in front of the camera and crowds, Pyrrha would have melted into a puddle of nerves right then and there. Instead, she somehow managed to politely refuse the pancake with a small smile and wave of her hand.

And she'd thought talking to _Yang_ had been difficult. Now Ruby was right here, looking up at her with those eyes, and that _face,_ and... Pyrrha realized a little too late that her semblance was going haywire, crumpling the edge of the metal tray being pushed her way.

She immediately folded both hands in her lap and tried to clear her mind. All she could ask of herself was to try to do her best.

"Oh that. Of course. You see, I wanted to... ask you..." Pyrrha was going to spit this out if it killed her, "I wanted to ask if... you... want to... t- to spar with me?" she kept on smiling as she internally screamed in silent frustration.

Ruby's concern over the bent up tray vanished and she perked up.

"Today? Yeah!" Almost right away the young team leader realized that might have been a little too much excitement- that must have been why Yang hadn't wanted to tell her. After all, this was _Pyrrha_. Her fighting style was so cool! And her semblance! And her weapons! And she wanted to spar? Maybe after the match she would even let her look at Milo's design. Ooh! Or Akuo's defense specs!

Ruby pulled the tray back her way and sat on her hands in an attempt to dial things down a bit, "I mean, if you want to. I mean..." her brow furrowed as she tried to piece together exactly why Pyrrha wasn't practicing with her own team, "... are Jaune and the others busy?"

Ruby's adorable burst of enthusiasm caught Pyrrha off guard, stalling out her answer, "Jaune and the others are..." lying comatose in a heap on Ren's bed after agreeing to Nora's pancake eating contest at breakfast, "... asleep. " Once she recovered from her small cuteness-induced heart attack, Pyrrha started to realize what she'd just accomplished.

She had always wanted to spar with Ruby, but she'd never wanted to intrude on the young team leader's practice time with her own team. But now… Pyrrha began to feel a bit of excitement of her own. She'd been drawn to the younger girl's unique fighting style as early as their first battle together during initiation.

There was a complete lack of scythe-wielders back in Sanctum, since people in the Kingdom of Mistral preferred the more traditional weapons - swords, shields, spears, and the like – and the sheer _speed_ at which Ruby could deliver her strikes… simply marvelous. As such, Pyrrha had taken every opportunity to watch each of Ruby's matches, wondering how she herself might fare against the younger girl's combination of such an exotic weapon and dangerous semblance.

"And of _course_ I want to spar with you," Pyrrha finally responded, leaning forward a bit, "It's not every day I get to test my skill against someone with your incredible speed."

Ruby rubbed the back of her neck, her face going pink. All of her possible responses- saying 'thanks', saying something nice back, playing it cool- all got tangled up into a smiling, shy incoherent mess because, yeah, her semblance was neat but it wasn't like she picked it out herself and Pyrrha's was magnets and stuff which was _so cool_.

This was it. This was going to be her undoing. Pyrrha could see the headlines now. _The Invincible Girl, slain by a sweet smile and silver eyes._

Pyrrha shot to her feet, wondering if she could try to blame her beet red complexion on her run. "I-I'm going to get something to drink. Would you like something?"

Ruby straightened up at Pyrrha's sudden movement, "Something? I mean, yeah! I'll come with you."

Pyrrha nearly stumbled over the bench on her way around the table when Ruby sprang up to walk beside her, all smiles. "Oh! Wonderful." Her mouth had gone dry, probably from sustained blushing. Was it possible for a smile to be a health risk?! "Let's go then." At least she would die hydrated.

* * *

After Ruby set a record for the fastest time to drink a glass of milk and Pyrrha managed not to accidentally inhale her cup of orange juice (most of it she didn't, anyway), they hit the locker room to collect their weapons.

"It took two hours and a _ton_ of treats to get him to come out, and Yang pretty much never vacuumed again. Well, except when Dad's allergies started freaking out over all the fur tumbleweeds," Ruby chattered as she entered her key code.

"The poor dear," Pyrrha laughed.

The metal door of Ruby's locker clunked open, revealing her organized disaster of tools, cleaning solvents, and ammunition. Crescent Rose took up most of the space, as the shelf that took up three quarters of the locker had been kept totally clean for her. Ruby hefted her homemade weapon out and plunked down on the low wooden bench to do a quick inspection of all her moving parts, asking while Pyrrha got ready, "So did you have any pets?"

Pyrrha simply smiled and nodded at Ruby, absentmindedly entering her locker's code. She'd been so delighted to listen to Ruby ramble - it was _so cute_ \- that it took her a full three seconds to realize she'd been asked a question. Her locker door that she'd just unlocked swung open and hit her in the face. Wincing both internally and externally, Pyrrha rubbed her battered nose and quietly pulled Milo and Akuo to herself with a small show of _controlled_ magnetism, "Yes. I had a horse. A lovely sorrel mare named Cookie."

"You had a _horse?!_ " Ruby gaped at her red-headed friend, but the match made sense. Actually she'd always pictured Pyrrha as more of a dog person- maybe a golden retriever sort of person. "Did you get to do horseback combat training?"

Ruby had always wanted to try that, but her uncle had made a point pretty early on that scythes and animals with long necks that came up right in your line of sight weren't a great mix. A spear, though... Ruby hardly had to look at her hands to finish her inspection, so she watched Pyrrha.

Pyrrha Nikos, world renowned champion, fearless under the watchful eyes of thousands of fans cheering in the stands, shied away from Ruby's sustained gaze. She looked down at her spear as she carefully ran it through its permutations, checking for any kinks.

"Yes, but only for sanctioned tournaments. Never for actual battle against Grimm. She was a gentle one." Her weapon's check complete, Pyrrha glanced around the mostly-deserted gym, motioning for Ruby to follow her onto the nearest sparring mat. "Nothing quite as formidable as your Zwei."

"Yeah, it's too bad you can't ride him." A mental image of a horse-sized Battle Zwei sprang to her mind. His mighty cry would strike fear into the hearts of Grimm: ARF. Ruby shook that out of her head and squared off with Pyrrha. She cycled Crescent Rose open with practiced ease, taking up an eager fighting stance, "So, tournament rules?"

Pyrrha nodded, her overly-stressed mind finally beginning to relax as she instinctually studied Ruby's stance and the angle she held Crescent Rose. This was not at all how she'd imagined this morning going, but maybe a good round or two would help her unwind. Help her actually build up the courage to... speak clearly.

Extending her spear to its full length and gripping it with renewed determination, Pyrrha settled back into a defensive posture, mirroring Ruby's eager smile. "Ready when you are."

"Start on three," Ruby swiped her sleeve across her nose and resettled her grip on her scythe. "One," she deepened her stance, coiling like a spring. "two," oh man, this was going to be so much fun, "three!"

Ruby shot forward in a flurry of rose petals, swinging straight for her opponent.

Pyrrha didn't even have time to dodge. She barely brought her shield up in time, using it to redirect the arc of Ruby's scythe just enough to sidestep being bull rushed, which was exactly the outcome she'd needed.

For the brief seconds her shield was in contact with Crescent Rose, Pyrrha reached out with her semblance, feeling through the massive scythe to magnetize anything she could - the blades, the bullets, the gun's barrel - which was normally where she would stop against any other opponent.

But, as if it had a mind of its own, her semblance searched a bit farther still, finding the clasps of Ruby's cape, the weapon harness at her back, the belt of bullets around her waist, down to the buckles on her boots. Blushing fiercely at what she perceived as a breach of Ruby's privacy, Pyrrha dove away from her, her spear shifting into its rifle form mid-roll into another of her defensive stances. Crouched low, the rifle's barrel nestled in the dip in her shield's edge as she fired.

Ruby sprang back, her scythe a blur as she deflected Pyrrha's shots off into the floor and some random gym equipment that was definitely not important at all. In the midst of the action she was fascinated by Pyrrha's gold shield, Akouo.

He was so small, but so effective. Was it because of her semblance? Ruby planted her feet and whipped off two shots herself, one high and one low, hoping to see Pyrrha pull the bullets so they'd deflect off the circle of gold. Well, except they were bullets and hard to see.

She used her speed to charge in again with Crescent Rose, pressing to get Pyrrha to use her magnet powers.

Pyrrha had watched enough of Ruby's fights to pick up on one of her tells, the barest bracing of her back foot before she used her semblance, but knowing it was coming didn't make countering it any easier. This charge felt faster even than the first. The bullets Ruby had just fired had only just deflected off the edges of her shield when Pyrrha barely registered a streak of red, rose petals, a flash of steel that she felt before she saw, cutting through the ambient magnetic field she kept up at all times during a match.

She had no choice but to make a split-second alteration to the trajectory of the blade by intuition alone, feeling a cold rush of air as the scythe sliced inches from her shoulder and slammed down into the mat with an impressive amount of force. The impact slowed Ruby just enough for Pyrrha's eyes to finally catch sight of her again. Emerald green looked up and locked with quicksilver, mesmerized. Speed truly was a formidable skill to bring to battle. She would have to keep this fight close.

Springing up from her defensive crouch, Pyrrha aimed a flying knee square at Ruby's chest.

 _WHAM,_ Ruby's hands slipped off Crescent Rose's shaft as the direct hit knocked her backwards. She stayed on her feet via a combination of her aura (which absorbed some of the impact) and a semi-acrobatic flail.

 _Not good- not good!_ The disarmed Ruby immediately tried to lunge past Pyrrha to get her weapon where it stood lodged in the mat.

Pyrrha met her with a lunge of her own, but rather than slamming her head-on with her shield, she shifted sideways at the last moment, catching the smaller girl around the middle. Using both Ruby's momentum and a small amount of magnetic pull on her belt, Pyrrha spun her around, throwing and pinning her to the floor.

"Eep!" Ruby squeaked as Pyrrha drove her to the mats. Not wasting a second, the smaller girl arched and twisted in her grip to face her, ducking her head down hard and jabbing at Pyrrha's stomach with her fingertips, her only thought being if Pyrrha was ticklish maybe she would let go for the second she needed to escape.

Every set of armor held its weaknesses, and Pyrrha's was no different, hers being that strip of skin where her corset didn't quite reach the top of her skirt. Though, to have that weakness exploited through _tickles_ was completely unexpected... and extremely effective.

Dropping her own weapon in surprise, Pyrrha squeaked as well and flung herself backwards, only for her semblance to utterly betray her, dragging Ruby along for the ride to land squarely on top of her.

"Whoa!" The scythe-wielder yelped as her belt buckles and ammo yanked her forward onto her friend. For a split second, she was stuck flush to Pyrrha's front. It was so weird Ruby started laughing even as she tried to get up, "Ack, I've got too many buckles!"

Pyrrha could barely form words. Her crush was currently _pinning her to the floor_ and they were supposed to be _sparring_ but there was also this sudden desire to just reach up and give Ruby a hug and _squeeze_ for all she was worth - especially when she smiled and laughed like that - but that was of course terribly inappropriate at the moment so all Pyrrha could do was cover her face as all the metal objects in the room began creeping towards them. Her dropped spear slid over and stuck to the side of her head.

For a split second she considered advising Ruby to remove her belt - that way she could escape before the rest of the gym equipment buried them in a shiny metal prison of embarrassment - but the alternate implications of such a request sent Pyrrha's blush spiraling to new heights, up to her ears and down her neck. Crescent Rose dragged across the mats and stuck to her leg.

Meanwhile, Ruby braced her hands on either side of Pyrrha's hips and pried herself up enough to see her sparring partner. Ruby was still laughing but also straining with the effort of keeping her shoulder clasps from dragging her back down. "Pyrrha? Okay, you're really red-are you okay?"

"I- I'm-" going to faint, "I'm _sorry,_ " Pyrrha rallied, determined to salvage this mess she'd made, "This doesn't normally happen," she gently grasped Ruby's shoulders, trying to push her away as best she could. She was so focused on her task, she didn't even register the dust-forged rapier sliding across the gym's floor and sticking to one of her feet.

* * *

Weiss Schnee, heiress of the most successful (though occasionally morally questionable) company on Remnant, had been preparing to practice her close-range strikes on one of the life-sized Grimm training dummies available in the gym when she noticed what a mess her locker was.

Were those _fingerprints_ on the door? Had she seriously hung one of her hangers _backwards_? Naturally, she had to set her sword down on the bench by the door for a few moments while she wiped things down and straightened up.

"Hmph," she shut the locker door, satisfied that it was orderly once more, and reached to pick up her weapon.

... except it was gone. Brow furrowing, she checked under the bench. The floor was _filthy_ , but the sound of a very familiar, very annoying squeak of laughter from the gym proper drew her attention away from it.

"Ruby Rose! Did you take my-" she stormed through the open doorway only to pull up short at the sight of her red-cloaked partner straddling a very distressed looking Pyrrha Nikos on the floor.

" _Ruby!_ " she sprang forward to catch Ruby and drag her off, but the younger girl just yelped and seemed to drag Pyrrha with her. Weiss yanked at her partner's arm, "What are you doing, you dolt? Get off of her!"

"Weiss!" Pyrrha immediately released Ruby, so mortified at being caught in such a compromising position by Ruby's _partner_ that her semblance slammed into reverse, forcibly jettisoning anything metal that was near her.

Ruby pitched backwards, flying head over heels over Weiss clear to the edge of the mats. She groaned, propping herself up on her elbows. It's a good thing the mats were pretty soft.

Beside her, Weiss rubbed her head, glaring. She wasn't sure what she'd seen, or if she'd even seen anything, but she knew whatever it was had to be Ruby's fault. "What did you do?"

Ruby sat up, batting her bangs out of her eyes and glaring back at the unjust accusation, "I didn't do anything!"

"That's clearly not the case," Myrtenaster quivered point first in the wall. Crescent Rose was stuck in the ceiling. The fencer huffed as she got to her feet and dusted herself off.

Ruby shrank a little. Maybe she'd messed up Pyrrha's semblance somehow? She didn't know how that would even be a thing, but she'd never really seen it go crazy like that. Cautiously, she called across the mats to her possibly ailing sparring partner, "Hey, uh, Pyrrha? Are you, um... did you want to take a break?"

Pyrrha slowly sat up, one hand to her head. "A break sounds _grand._ " She pushed herself to her feet, dearly wishing her rampant blush would subside, maybe even relinquish a bit of her body's blood back to her pounding heart.

Cautiously, Pyrrha pulled her spear Milo to her hand. It flew over in a pitiful lazy wobble, but it didn't zoom past her or embed itself into anything! So far so good. Next, she pulled Myrtenaster to herself in a straight, albeit shaky line. Pleased to see she had regained some degree of her control, Pyrrha offered the weapon handle-first to Weiss. Unsure of how to explain what had just happened, she defaulted to her usual. "I'm sorry. This really wasn't Ruby's fault."

Weiss snatched her weapon, shooting her downcast partner a look, "You don't have to cover for her. Honestly, if she's being a nuisance during your training-"

"No! Not at all." Pyrrha threw her hands up in Ruby's defense, " _I_ was the one who asked her out. ...Here. To spar. With me. Um..." Crescent Rose hit the ground with a heavy _thud_ behind Pyrrha as she firmly clamped her mouth shut.

Ruby cringed at the impact of her very large, very sharp weapon on the mats. She rubbed the back of her neck, "Weiss, you know, I just, uh-"

"You asked her out," Weiss raised an eyebrow at Pyrrha, clearly skeptical, "to spar?"

"...Yes." Pyrrha blanked for any further explanation, simply staring at Weiss. Eventually her eyes darted to Ruby, then the gym's entrance, and back, "But we're taking a break now so... Goodbye!" Pyrrha all but fled to the locker rooms, her semblance unwittingly dragging Crescent Rose awkwardly along behind her.

Ruby scurried after her sparring partner, "Wait!"

She skidded briefly to scoop up Crescent Rose, folding the weapon and ducking into the locker room.

Weiss watched the two disappear through the open doorway. She tossed her white hair over her shoulder, throwing up her arms as she turned to the training dummies, "So long as I get to practice in peace."

* * *

The locker rooms were still mostly deserted when Ruby caught up to her distraught friend, "Pyrrha, wait, I think we should... um..."

Actually, Ruby didn't really have a plan for what to say. She blurted out the first thing she could think of, "Sorry for tickling you," after that the words spilled out really fast, "I'm not really great at fighting without Crescent Rose and I didn't know it would make your semblance do that, and I still think your semblance is super cool, and I'm really, really sorry."

Pyrrha shut her locker, already shaking her head as she turned to face Ruby. "It's all right - that wasn't your fault at all." She ducked her head, bashful, "My semblance... has a habit of going haywire when I'm nervous."

"... nervous?" Pyrrha got nervous? Well, of course she did, but why would she be nervous during a practice match? They were standing about two feet apart, and Ruby's mouth was suddenly kind of dry as she looked up at her friend.

Come to think of it, she'd been acting strange all morning. Was something really the matter? Ruby scuffed one of her combat boots on the tile flooring, ducking a little to try to catch Pyrrha's eyes, "You, um. You were nervous about sparring?"

"N-no, I..." Pyrrha froze up, not quite sure how to explain that it wasn't the sparring itself, but rather her sparring partner that had her fumbling about like a newborn fawn. Honestly, that was no excuse for making Ruby worry though, so Pyrrha took a deep breath and tried to collect her thoughts.

Sparring while so severely distracted might not have been the best idea. This whole venture, trying to talk to Ruby about how she felt… perhaps that may also not have been the best idea… Perhaps she would just try again later. This attempt had ended in complete disaster…

"I very much like your idea of taking a break, though," Pyrrha clasped her hands together. Smiling through her disappointment, she offered an alternative that could still at least be a fun outing between friends, "Would you like to take a trip down to Vale with me? There is an ice-cream place I've been meaning to try for some time now."

"Sure...but that sounds sort of..." Ruby faltered a little as Pyrrha tried to smile her way out of explaining what was going on. She messed with her hands, not quite sure what to do with them, "... not... like what you want to do."

Her silver eyes watched, curious and a little worried, as she waited for Pyrrha to give some clue of what was making her so anxious. She didn't want Pyrrha to be anxious if she didn't have to be. And maybe if her friend told her what was going on, she could help?

Pyrrha blinked down at Ruby, stunned. Despite nearly the extra foot of height she had on the younger girl, she felt very much like she'd been trapped in the piercing gaze of a wolf (perhaps a very tiny and adorable wolf puppy) - one that had caught wind of something suspicious and was valiantly trying to track it down.

The powers of uncanny perception ran strong in this family. That made for both sisters now that had seen straight through her practiced professional veneer _and_ called her out for it. Pyrrha sighed, defeated, but felt oddly relieved for it.

It was... nice, actually, to have people she couldn't fool.

"Okay. You got me." The next smile she offered was something far more genuine. Motioning for Ruby to follow her, Pyrrha headed for the exit that lead out to the school's open track and field. "Ruby. Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah," Ruby fell in step with the taller girl, feeling much more at ease now that Pyrrha was acting little more relaxed. "I mean, what's up?"

Pyrrha stepped outside, soaking in a bit of warmth and courage from the sunlight. She held the door for Ruby, using the moment to tease out the right way to ask... "If there was someone you really liked, how would you tell them?"

The younger girl stepped out onto the paved part of the path that led to the long track and field circle. The whole field was pretty much empty for the weekend except for one of the upper class groups working on their massive year end project on the other side of the track. (Reportedly, it was a collapsible catapult, and Ruby was hard-pressed not to watch.) The breeze played with Ruby's cloak while she thought about Pyrrha's question.

Ruby wasn't exactly a social butterfly, but she definitely knew who she liked. She liked everyone on her team, and Pyrrha's team, and teams SSSN and CFVY seemed pretty okay (if sort of intimidating, sometimes), and of course Penny, wherever she was. And she was pretty sure that her friends knew that they were in her general sphere of liking, otherwise they wouldn't be friends, right? She rubbed the back of her neck, glancing up at Pyrrha, perplexed, "Why do you have to tell them? Wouldn't they already know?"

Pyrrha nearly stumbled over her own two feet. She peered down at Ruby, trying desperately to discern whether Ruby was saying she already _knew_... but her questioning silver eyes assured her otherwise. Biting her lip, Pyrrha pressed on, "Suppose you weren't sure... what would be the best way to show someone that you like them?"

"You mean like being nice to them and stuff...?" Standing out in the sun and looking up at Pyrrha, who was walking kind of close so she actually did sort of have to look up, Ruby felt an unexpected blush creep across her face. It was strange and she dropped her eyes and fidgeted with her hands. She was starting to suspect that she and Pyrrha weren't talking about the same thing, but she ventured another go anyway, "Is there somebody you think doesn't like you?"

"Well..." Pyrrha forced herself to look away before she suffered a heart attack from watching Ruby fidget so adorably. She watched the horizon instead. "I'm fairly certain they like me... but I'm not certain it's in the same way."

"Maybe you should ask Yang about it?" Ruby hazarded, sneaking a glance up. This sounded like a relationship sort of thing, and Yang knew all about that stuff. Her one hand snuck behind her back to brush Crescent Rose, who remained a comforting, very mechanical and not relationship-related weight at her back, "Or maybe Nora?"

Who knew how that would turn out, but she talked about people being 'together' vs. ' _together_ together' pretty often. Personally, Ruby counted herself as the least qualified among her immediate acquaintances to talk about anyone wanting to be together together, which made it easy to admit to Pyrrha, "I'm kind of better with weapons than I am with people."

A beat of silence passed, then Pyrrha giggled, delighted by Ruby's honesty. There were many days when she felt the same, content to work on her forms or tinker with her weapons rather than risk visiting the town, lest she be recognized and mobbed.

"Well, that explains why your Crescent Rose is such a masterpiece," Pyrrha said with another giggle, turning down the familiar path to the open field. "Does this mean you've never had a crush?"

Ruby stayed stuck on the masterpiece comment for a second because masterpiece? Crescent Rose? She maybe wouldn't say _masterpiece-_ she could use some upgrades and a little bit of streamlining, and Ruby wasn't a master- but for the most part, yeah, Crescent Rose _was_ the best.

After a moment, Pyrrha's question about crushes got through and Ruby realized that she had no idea. Flushed with pride as she was, she fumbled to keep pace and talk about whether she'd had a crush at the same time.

"Nope! I mean, yes? I, um. I don't know," grimacing at her mess of an answer, she made fists and bounced them one on top of the other in an active show of nerves, "Have you? Had one, I mean."

Pyrrha absentmindedly ran her fingertips across the gold armor circling her neck, trying to draw some resolve from the solid protective metal. She was going to do this or she would _die trying._ "...Yes," she glanced down at Ruby, watching for her reactions, "on one of the students here at the school, actually."

Ruby swallowed, trying to clear her throat. Her voice still came out with a squeak in it as she guessed, "... is it Yang?"

She had a feeling it wasn't Yang.

Pyrrha felt a blush creeping up past the edges of the armor around her neck, "No... But she is on the same team..." She could have kicked herself in the shins. Why couldn't she just _say it?!_

That meant it could have been Weiss or Blake. Pyrrha had stopped walking at the edge of the wide oval track. The breeze teased strands of her long crimson hair across her back. Ruby stopped too, her hands going still. It could have been either of her other teammates, but... "Is it me?"

That pesky blush had crept all the way up to Pyrrha's ears by now, and the four-time tournament champion had to drop her eyes to the ground, gathering every last shred of her courage together to eke out one simple word, "...Yes."

Ruby went quiet for a bit. It was strange to think about, but... not strange in a bad way. How could anything with Pyrrha be in a bad way? Still, Ruby scuffed her boot on the edge of the track, "... so... you're kind of the first person to have a crush on me."

"How is that possible?!" Pyrrha's head snapped up, "You're so kind, and- and you want to make the world a better place, and you're so _cute,_ and..." Pyrrha's words petered out as her brain caught up with her mouth. She cleared her throat and looked away, all her usual eloquence thrown straight out the window in an embarrassed heap. "And you… you fight good."

"Y-you too?" Ruby's face went hot and she clasped her hands behind her back over Crescent Rose. The metal grounded her a little, "I mean, you do too. Fighting, I mean. Sparring was super fun, and... and..." her voice rose almost an octave, "... and maybe we could do it again sometime?"

"That..." Pyrrha's eyes found Ruby's, and she stared in wonder. Did this count as acceptance? "That sounds grand." A smile tugged at the edge of her lips. "I could teach you some more... _orthodox_ unarmed sparring techniques?"

"That might be good," Ruby gave a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of her head shyly. She didn't know what to do exactly, or if anything even really needed to be done, but it seemed like a good idea to offer something more than just sparring. "I could show you how to clean Crescent Rose? If you wanted to see."

"And I could show you Milo and Akuou," Pyrrha offered in kind. A thought occurred to her, and she ducked her head just slightly, "So, would that be considered a date?"

The hand Ruby had been rubbing the back of her head with traveled down to her shoulder. Did doing fun stuff like weapons maintenance together count as dating? She perked up.

"I think so," gaining confidence, she drew herself to her full, completely-unimpressive height and pronounced, "As a matter of fact, I think it would be considered a pretty darn good one." Excitement mounting at the thought that dating could be _fun_ , and that she could do it with Pyrrha, she hop-skipped a step back towards the locker room where she kept a lot of her tools and gear. "Want to go now?"

Before Pyrrha could answer, Ruby's stomach growled like an unhappy Grimm. She hugged her middle, trying to quiet the beast. Apparently the pancakes were no match for her hyper-fast metabolism. Ruby grinned a little through the embarrassed color on her face, "... or maybe we could go after lunch?"

"A splendid idea," Pyrrha laughed, following Ruby and patting her on the back. Ecstatic over the prospect of an honest to goodness official date with her crush, Pyrrha gave herself one last push. "But before we go... I actually have a request... if that's okay."

"Sure!" Ruby looked up. Her dark hair was a little messed up from the breeze, her silver eyes bright and curious, "What is it?"

Pyrrha stared for a moment, lost in pools of quicksilver. She took a deep breath, placing a hand over her chest to steady herself. "May I... hug you?"

Ruby blinked, and without further ado hugged onto her friend- well, girlfriend?- so fast that she shed rose petals.

"Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrg," she growled, shoving against Pyrrha and squeezing her arms around her rib cage as hard as she could.

Pyrrha laughed in surprised delight, wrapping her arms around Ruby and lifting her clear off the ground, spinning her around and squeezing right back. She hadn't hugged someone like this in far too long. But, when Ruby's stomach growled in protest, Pyrrha set her right back down. She beamed down at Ruby. "Let's go eat." And so they did, together.


End file.
